cambrian geology and paleontology

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOLUME (End. 75,. of. NUMBER. 5. Volume). CAMBRIAN GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY V No.. .1— PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC EORMATIONS OE THE CORDILLERAN PROVINCES OE CANADA (With Plates. 26 to 108). BY. CHARLES. D.. WALCOTT. (Publication 2965). CITY OF WASHINGTON. PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. SEPTEMBER. 14,. 1928.

BALTIMORE, MD.,. U.. S.. A..

PREFACE The manuscript. of this paper. was. Doolittle Walcott in such shape that. Having been. pleted.. work. left it. by the. late. Cambrian some of the investi-. associated with the author in his. for almost 13 years, and having conducted. summary. gations to obtain the necessary data used in this stratigraphic. Dr. Charles. could be satisfactorily com-. studies in the. Canadian Rockies,. I. of his. have undertaken. the task of completing and publishing the paper.. Only such. alterations have been. made. as. were contemplated by we had. Dr. Walcott, or that have resulted from plans of procedure previously agreed upon.. From. notes and fragments,. it. appears that Dr. Walcott intended. to add a discussion of the structure and of the paleogeography, but. neither of these subjects. include the chapters. tion charts -that I. was. He had. sufficiently. developed to permit. me. to. also planned to publish certain correla-. was making, but under the circumstances. it. is. thought best to omit them.. The. present report, which. I. feel. sure will take. its. place. among. the outstanding stratigraphic papers, has had a remarkable history. Tt existed in partly finished form for a number of years, always about. completed in Dr. Walcott's mind, but since each year's work field. in the. and laboratory added so much new information, and new probit to press was re-. lems arose so persistently, the date for sending. peatedly advanced, a procedure which, considering the present status of the. Cambrian. studies, is in. no wise out of the ordinary.. The. remarkable thing was that Dr. Walcott, when well past the age at which many men cease work altogether, put aside this manuscript, took the time to study the newer principles of stratigraphy, and then. rewrote the entire work on the. new. basis. ;. truly the. mark. of a great. mind.. Chas. E. Resser. March. 19, 1928..



CAMBRIAN GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY V PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS OF THE CORDILLERAN PROVINCES OF CANADA. No. 5.— PRE-DE\^ONIAN. CHARLES. By. WALCOTT. D.. (With Plates. 26 to 108). CONTENTS PAGE Preface. iii. Part. I. Introduction. 185. Geographic nornenclature Cotton Grass and Tilted Mountain Cirques. 188. 188. Robson Peak District. 189. Geological nomenclature. 189. Sawback formation. 190. Devonian. 192. Description of plate 26. 195. Distances in direct line between typical sections referred to in this paper. Cordilleran Geosyncline. .. .. 196 197. Pre-Devonian unconformity and interval in the Cordilleran Provinces 198 Folding of pre-Devonian sedimentary formations of the Cordilleran Geosyn201 cline of the Canadian Rocky Mountains Character of the rocks. 203. Part. II. Pre-Devonian Paleozoic formations Devonian Mount Wilson quartzite Ghost River formation. 207 208. 208 210 211. Silurian. Brisco formation. 213. Beaverfoot formation. 215. Wonah. 217. quartzite. Ordovician. 217. Skoki formation. 217. Robson formation. 218. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 75, No. 5 (End of Volume) 175.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 176. VOL. 75 PAGE. Canadian Glenogle formation Sarbach formation Ozarkian Upper boundary of Ozarkian Lower boundary of Ozarkian Mons formation Chusbina formation Upper Cambrian Sabine formation Lyell formation Goodsir formation Ottertail formation Chancellor formation Sherbrook formation Paget formation Bosworth formation Sullivan formation Lynx formation Arctomys formation Middle Cambrian Eldon formation Stephen formation Murchison formation Titkana formation Cathedral formation Tatei formation Ptarmigan formation Chetang formation. 218 218. 220 :. 223 223 224 226. 226 227. 228 232 237 240 242. 242 243. 244 245 245 246. 246 247. 248 248. 249 250 250 251. Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation St.. 251 251. Piran formation. 252. Hota formation Lake Louise shale Fort Mountain formation Mahto formation. 253 253. 254 255. Tah formation McNaughton formation. 255 256. Algonkian. 256 256. Belt series. Hector. 256. formation. Corral Creek formation. 257 258. Miette formation. Part Stratigraphic sections. Devils. 222. Gap and Ghost River area. Devonian Ghost River formation. III. 259 259 261. 261.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 1/7 PAGE 262. Cambrian Upper and Middle Cambrian formations Lower Cambrian Sawback Range area Ranger Canyon section Devonian. 262 262. 263. 264 265. Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian Mons formation Lower Ozarkian ? Unnamed formation. -.. 265. 265 265. 266 266. 266. Upper Cambrian. 266. Lyell formation. Bosworth formation Arctomys formation Middle Cambrian Eldon formation Wild Flower Canyon section Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian. Mons formation Bonnet Peak section Devonian Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian Mons formation Upper Cambrian Lyell formation Castle Mountain section Upper Cambrian Bosworth formation Arctomys formation Middle Cambrian Eldon formation Stephen formation Cathedral formation Ptarmigan formation Lower Cambrian. Mount Whyte formation. 265. 267 267 267 :. .. .. .. .. 267. 268 269 269 271 271. 272 2.T2. 272 2^2 2'J2). 273 274 274. 274. 274. 274 275 275 275. 276. 276 276 276 276. Piran formation. 277. Mountain group Ptarmigan Peak section Middle Cambrian. 2T]. St.. Slate. Cathedral formation. Ptarmigan formation. Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation. 2^J^. 278 278 278. 279 279.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 78. VOL. 75 PAGE. St.. Piran formation. 280. Lake Louise shale Fort Mountain formation. 281 281. Algonkian Hector formation Fossil Mountain section Devonian Ghost River formation ? Ordovician Skoki formation Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian Mons formation Upper Cambrian Lyell formation Arctomys formation Middle Cambrian Eldon formation Section on Northeast Shoulder of Fossil Mountain Devonian (Middle) Messincs formation. Ordovician Skoki formation. Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian Mons formation Tilted Mountain Brook section Upper Cambrian Sabine formation Algal growth. Mount. Assiniboine region. Middle Cambrian Cathedral formation. Ptarmigan formation Lower Cambrian. Mount Whyte formation St.. Piran formation. Lake Louise shale Fort Mountain formation Pre-Cambrian Phareo Peaks Region Bow Range area. 281 281 281. 282. 282 283 ;. .. .. .. 283. 283 283 283 283. 285 285. 286 287. 287 287 288. 288 :. 288 288 288 288. 290 290 291 291. 291. 294. 296 297 297. 297 297 297. 298 298 298 298 299 299. V^ermilion Pass section. 299. Mount Temple section Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation. 301. St.. Piran formation. 301 301. 301.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 179 PAGE. Lakes Louise and Agnes section Middle Cambrian Cathedral formation Ptarmigan formation. 302. 302 302 302. Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation. 302. Piran formation. 303. St.. 302. Lake Louise shale Fort Mountain formation Fairview Mountain section Mount Odaray section. Mount Schaffer section Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation Ross Lake section Middle Cambrian Cathedral formation. Ptarmigan formation (including the Ross Lake shale) Lower Cambrian. Mount Whyte formation St.. Piran formation. Mount Bosworth Upper Cambrian Sherbrook formation Paget formation Bosworth formation Arctomys formation Middle Cambrian Eldon formation Stephen formation Cathedral and Ptarmigan formations Lower Cambrian. Mount Whyte formation St. Piran formation Fort Mountain formation Mount Stephen section. Middle Cambrian Eldon formation Stephen formation Cathedral formation. Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation St.. Piran formation. Middle Cambrian Ogygopsis shale member of Stephen formation Burgess shale member of Stephen formation. Range Upper Cambrian. Ottertail. Goodsir formation Ottertail formation Chancellor formation. 303. 303 303 305 305 ". 305 305. 306 306. 306 306 307 307 308. 308 309 309 310 310 311 311. 311. 312. 312 313 313 314 314 315 315. 315 315 317 317. 317 319 319. 319 320 322 323 323 323 324.

1. SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. l80. VOL. 75 PAGE. Bow Lake. 324. section. 325. Middle Cambrian Cathedral formation Ptarmigan formation Lower Cambrian. 325 325. •.. 325. 325. Mount Whyte formation. 326 320. Piran formation Clearwater Canyon area St.. Clearwater Canyon section. 32/. Devonian. •. Upper Devonian) Messines formation (Middle Devonian) Mount Wilson quartzite Pipestone formation. (. •. •. ^-^ Z^l 328. 329. Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian Mons formation. 3^9 329. LIpper Cambrian. 332. 33 ZZ^. Lyell formation. ZZ-. Sullivan formation. Z2)2. Siffleur. ZZZ. River section. Upper Cambrian. 334. Lyell formation. 334. formation Arctomys formation. 335. Sullivan. 335 336. Middle Cambrian. 336. Murcliison formation Cathedral formation. 336. Ptarmigan formation. 337. Lower Cambrian Mount Whyte formation. 337. Piran formation. ZZl. St.. Glacier Lake area. Z'^ 339. Devonian (Middle). 339. Messines formation Canadian Sarbach formation Ozarkian. 340 340 34° 340. Mons formation L^pper Cambrian. 342 342 342. Sabine formation Lyell formation. Sullivan. 343. formation. Arctomys formation Middle Cambrian Murchison formation Beaverfoot-Brisco Range Robson Peak area Note on the stratigraphic. ZZl. 34" 348 348 348 section. 34° 352.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. lOl PAGE 358. Stratigraphic section. Ordovician. 358. ?. Robson formation. 358. Ozarkian Chushina formation Upper Cambrian Lynx formation Middle Cambrian Titkana formation Tatei formation Chetang formation. 358. Lower Cambrian Hota formation Mahto formation Tab formation McNaughton formation. 362. Algonkian. 363. 358. 359 360. 360 360 361 3^1. 362 362 363 363. Beltian series. 363. Miette formation. Summary. of. .". Robson Peak. section. Pre- Paleozoic section. Kinney. Lake. section. lyatunga " Mountain Ozarkian. section. 363. 364 365 365 366 366 366. Cbusbina formation Upper Cambrian Lynx formation Titkana Peak section. 367. 367 367. ILLUSTRATIONS Pl^t'^^. map showing most. 26.. Outline. 27.. Cliffs. 28.. Cliffs. 29.. North. 30.. Southwestern face. 31.. Fig.. of the sections. on Ghost River on South Fork of Ghost River. Gap of Sawback Range. side of Devils. Ranger Brook Canyon. Fig.. 260. 260 264. on Johnston Creek. 264. 264. I.. Johnston-Wild Flower Canyon Pass Fig.. I94. 260. I.. Fig. 2. Inclined strata 32.. page. 268. 2.. 35.. Canyon from Johnston Creek to Badger Pass Douglas Creek Nearer view of plate 32, figure 2 North side of Mount Douglas. 272. 36.. Gwendolyn. glacier. 272. 37.. Mount. Bride. 272. 38.. Southwest face of Castle Mountain. 33. 34.. St.. 268. 268 272. 274.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. l82. VOL. 75 PAGE. 39.. East and southeast face of Castle Mountain. 40.. Fig-.. Helena Ridge of Castle Mountain Fig. 2. Profile of southeast end of Castle. 48.. Mountain Panoramic view of Ptarmigan Peak South slope of Redoubt Mountain Western side of Redoubt Mountain Southwest cliffs of Redoubt Mountain Ptarmigan Peak Panoramic view south of Baker and Ptarmigan Lakes Panoramic view from Fossil Mountain Panoramic view of east and south face of Fossil Mountain. 49.. Fig.. 41.. 42. 43.. 44. 4.S.. 46.. 47.. 274. I.. 274 274 278 280. 280 280 280 280. 282 282. I.. Bride-Douglas. Massif. 284 284 284. 54.. Skoki Mountain North end of Oyster Mountain Looking south across Upper Red Deer River Panoramic view of Tilted Mountain Cirque North and northeast side of Tilted Mountain Cirque Ridges south of Tilted Mountain. 55-. Fig.. St.. Fig. 50.. 51. 52. 53.. 2.. 290 290. I.. Head Fig.. 284 290. of Tilted Mountain Cirque. 290. 2.. 59.. Tilted Mountain Brook Falls Views of columns of Collcnia ? prolifica Views of Collcnia ? prolifica Panorama of Mount Assiniboine Looking southeast through Wonder Pass. 60.. Basal conglomerate, north side of. 61.. 298 300. 64.. Northern ridge of Wedgwood Peak Panoramic view of the Bow Valley West face of Storm Mountain South side of Bow Valley. 65.. Mount Whyte. 302. 66.. 306. 74.. above Ross Lake South side of Mount Bosworth East side of Sherbrook Ridge Panoramic 'View, Northwest Side of Mount Stephen View from cliffs west of Burgess Pass Looking west from Mount Stephen Looking northwest from Mount Stephen Northwest side of Mount Stephen Burgess shale fossil quarry. 75.. Ottertail. 76.. Panorama at Wolverine Pass Looking southwest over Bow Lake Looking down upper canyon of Clearwater River South face of Mount Wilson South face of Section Mountain. 56. 57. 58.. 62.. 63.. 67. 68. 69. 70.. 71.. 72. 73.. 77. 78. 7980.. Wonder Pass. Cliffs. Range. 290 294 294 298 298 298. 302 302. 308 308. 314 314 318 318 322 322 322 322. 324 326 326 326.

.. PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 183 PAGE. 81.. Northeast side of Devon Mountain. 82.. Fig-.. Mount Wilson and Fig.. 326. glacier. 2.. Camp on 84. 85.. Cliffs east side Siffleur. 86.. Siffleur. 87.. Panoramic view of Glacier Lake section View across Saskatchewan River. 88.. River. Division Mountain. .91.. Mons. '.. 338. glacier. 108.. Mount Resplendent. 95. 96.. 97. 98. 99.. 100. loi. 102. 103.. 104. 105. 106.. 334 338 338 338. 107.. 93.. 334. 338. Near Lyell glacier North face of Mount Murchison Panoramic view showing Robson Peak Robson Peak from northwest Northeast face of Robson Peak Robson Peak from south-southwest Robson Peak from north Robson Peak from northwest slope of Mount Resplendent Two views of Tah Mountain Tah Peak View over Coleman Creek Coleman Creek Titkana Peak Panoramic view from southwest slope of Titkana Peak Looking north-northeast over Lake Kinney View of Lynx Mountain. 94.. 326. River. Mount Forbes. Upper. 90.. part of. 326. Canyon. 89.. 92.. 326. Clearwater River. North ridge of Mount Wilson Mount Alexandra. 83.. 326. I.. 346 346 346 346 ".. 346 346 346. 346 354 354. 354 354 354 356 356. 356 356. Text Figures PAGE 260. 24.. Section above Ghost River. 25.. 28.. Diagrammatic section, Johnston-Wild Flower Canyon Pass..., Diagrammatic outline of Tilted Mountain Brook section Outline of section, Tilted Mountain Cirque Diagrammatic outline of the Collerda ? beds. 29.. Outline of. Mount Assiniboine. 30.. Outline of. Bow. 31.. Outline of Siffleur River Canyon Diagrammatic sketch of supposed algae. 26. 27.. 32.. section. Valley section. 33.. Theoretical section, Lake Kinney. 34.. Section of. 35.. Outline of mountain shown in plate 102. Mount Robson. 270 292 292 295 296. 300 331. 345 350 351. 354.



PART. I. INTRODUCTION. When examining- Dr. R. the Bow Valley, Alberta, Canyon. to Field,. interest. and promise. pre-Cambrian. ^. G. McConnell's stratigraphic section of. and westward into the Kicking Horse. British Columbia, in. of the. in the. Bow. 1907,. I. fomid so much of. Middle and Lower Cambrian Valley that. study of the Upper Cambrian of the. I. gave. little. '. and the. attention to the. Mount Bosworth. section,^. and. Upper Cambrian of Mount Dennis and west, which was subsequently so admirably worked out by Allan in 1910iQii/ During the field season of 1918 I examined the Upper Cambrian formations of Wolverine Pass and vicinity south of Mount Dennis, and 21 miles (33.8 km.) south of the Mount Bosworth did nothing with the. section, and in 1919 measured a very complete section of the Ozarkian and Upper Cambrian at Glacier Lake," 40 miles (64.4 km.) north, 30° W. of Allan's Mount Dennis section. This section was found. from the Mount Dennis-Ottertail-Goodsir section of Allan and could be compared only in part with the Upper Cambrian formations of the Mount Bosworth section. In the season of 1920 a. to dififer materially. partial. was examined on the SifBeur River south of the Arctomys. section. Saskatchewan River, which includes the Lyell, Sullivan, and. formations of the Upper Cambrian of the Glacier Lake section, also the Middle Cambrian Murchison and Cathedral formations. This. Murchison formation of the Glacier Lake Middle Cambrian and correlated Bosworth section, which is Mount of the formation Stephen with the about 37 miles (59.5 km.) to the south. s'ection indicated that the. section should be referred to the. The next. section studied. River, which section.. is. was. that near the head of the Clearwater. 20 miles (32.1 km.) south, 19° east of the. The Clearwater. Vol. 53, No.. 1908, pp. 208-216.. '. Smithsonian Misc.. ". Idem, No.. 7,. pp. 423-431-. ^. Idem, No.. 5,. pp. 204-208.. *. Geol. Surv. Canada, Report for 1911 (1912), pp. 178-181. Also. Coll.,. Sififleur. section includes the formations of the upper 5,. Mem. No.. 1914, pp. 60-102. °. Smithsonian Misc.. Coll.,. Vol. 72, No.. i,. 1920, p. 15.. 185. 55,.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. l86. VOL. 75. the Glacier Lake section from the Ghost River preDevonian disconformity down through the Sarbach, Mons, and Lyell. portion of. formations.. The Upper Cambrian and Ozarkian formations of the Sawback Range, collectively named Sawback formation by Allan/ were hastily examined in Ranger Canyon, 12 miles (19.3 km.) northwest of Banfif in 1920,. and found. to contain fossils of the. Mons and. Lyell. formations of the Glacier Lake section, and in 192 1 a section that finely. is. exposed in the amphitheater at the head of Ranger Brook. Canyon was measured from. the unconformity at the bas|e of the. Devonian down through the Mons, Lyell, Bosworth, and Arctomys formations and into the subjacent middle Cambrian Eldon formation.. During the field season of 1922, a section of the Mons formation was examined near the head of Douglas Lake Creek in the northern part of the Sawback Range. 23.5 miles (37.8 km.) southeast of the Clearwater section and about 14 miles (22.5 km.) northwest of the Ranger Brook section also an incomplete section at the southern end of the Brisco-Stanford Range in Sinclair Canyon, British Columbia, 41 miles (66 km.) south-southwest of the Ranger Brook section and on the western slope of the main range of the Rocky Mountains. The Sinclair Canyon section indicated a great development of the Mons formation, which caused me to return in 1923 to study it and the preDevonian formations of the Beaverfoot-Brisco-Stanford Range between Kicking Horse Canyon on the north and Kootenay River at Canal Flats on the south. The results were published in 1924.° ;. In considering the relations of the great lower Paleozoic sections of the Cordilleran ranges in Utah, Nevada, and the Canadian Cordillera in 1893 (Bull.. U.. S. Geol. Surv.,. No. 81),. I. realized that there. was strong evidence for correlating certain Upper Cambrian and preDevonian formations throughout the Cordilleran region from the Bow Valley-Kicking Horse district of Alberta and British Columbia to the Basin ranges of Utah and Nevada, but before discussing this correlation I preferred to wait and study the northern sections and make collections of fossils from well-determined formations on which to base conclusions. In this paper the more or less imperfect reconnaissance sections of Nevada and Utah are referred to for the purpose of comparison with those of the Canadian Cordillera, but should be understood that a thorough,. it. ^. Geol. Surv. Canada, Report for 1912 (1914),. p.. Excursions, 1913, p. 182. Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 75, No. i, 1924.. Pt. 2, Transcontinental ^. critical 168.. study must be. made. Also Guide-Book No.. 8,.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. of. made. many. of these sections and. all. paleontologic correlations of. 187. others before stratigraphic and. more than a general character can be. for the Cordilleran area.. Geologists may, perhaps,. wonder why. did not acquire. I. many more. geological data and larger collections in the Canadian Rockies during the period. The answer. 1907 to 1925.. physical obstacles encountered in the. will be. field,. found. (often from one-third to one-half of the short. be lost because of rain, snow, or cold). with pack train score years and. ;. and. more. sheep above timber usually occur.. last,. but not. ;. field. least, the inability. where the. More than. many. season would. long distances to be traveled. finest. of a. man. of three. mountain goat and. to utilize fully the trails of line,. in the. such as unfavorable weather. exposures of the strata. three full seasons were devoted to collect-. ing a large and unique fauna from the celebrated Burgess shale. quarry.. much. so. In Washington, administrative and public duties demanded time and energy that field notes and collections were often. inadequately studied and prepared for publication.. One. of the fascinating features of the geology of the Canadian. Cordillera. is. the delightful uncertainty of the results of structural. and stratigraphic work. The sections are complicated by irregularities of sedimentation, both longitudinal and transverse, in the secondary troughs of the original Cordilleran Geosyncline, and by both normal and thrust. faulting.. Great shale deposits thousands of feet in thickmay be absent in a section. ness like those of the Chancellor formation. a few miles distant or a great calcareous series of shales and limestones like the Goodsir. may. be apparently represented in the sec-. by limestones of varying character and thickness or be altogether absent. Were it not for a few formations like the Lyell of the Cambrian, the Mons of the Ozarkian, and the Messines of the Detion. vonian, even an approximate idea of the geologic history of this. wonderland could only be given by a detailed areal geologic map with structural sections, based on thorough study of the formations, their sedimentation, and contained fossil remains. of the nature of a reconnaissance, to the future areal. and structural. My. study of. it. has been. made with the view of furnishing geologist some additional data on. the succession of the pre-Devonian fossil faunas and faunules in the. various sedimentary formations that collectively form one of the great pre-Devonian sections of the world.. —. Acknowledgments. In a previous paper I have acknowledged my indebtedness to Dr. Rudolf Ruedemann of the New York State Mu'. Smithsonian Misc.. Coll.,. ^. Vol. 75, No.. i,. 1924, p. 7..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. l88. VOL. 75. seum, Dr. Edwin Kirk and Dr. Charles E. Resser of the United States. Museum, and Dr. E. M. Kindle, the Director of the GeoSurvey of Canada also to the officials and employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Parks, all of whom have given unfailing courtesy' and assistance, and to Mrs. Walcott, my enthusiastic assistant and comrade. I also wish to acknowledge the receipt of grants for several years from the Joseph Henry Fund and Othneil C. Marsh Fund of the National Academy of Sciences. These grants have made it possible for Dr. Charles E. Resser to do more field, laboratory, and office work, and for Mr. J. A. Mirguet to work the fossils from their matrix. In the preparation of illustrations, Mr. DeLancey Gill of the Bureau of American Ethnology has given valuable service, and some of the diagrammatic sections have been skillfully drawn from my rough sketches by Miss Frances Wieser. I am greatly indebted to Mr. W. P. True, editor of the Smithsonian Institution, for his careful editorial work on the text ISTational. —. logical. and the makeup of the paper.. GEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE. My. experience in the use of. At times. varied.. I. was compelled. graphic features in order to. tie in. new geographic names has been to. propose names for certain topo-. the geological sections and localities. mentioned with the topography so that they could be recognized by future workers. A few of the names proposed have been accepted by the Canadian Board of Geographic Names when located in the Province of Alberta, but there has been a persistent opposition to recognition of those suggested. for localities in British Columbia.. names. and. will. that have been used. presumably be recognized. later applied to geological. The. formations. in the future.. COTTON GRASS AND TILTED MOUNTAIN CIRQUES These names were proposed for two large. glacial cirques (see pis.. 52-55) on the western side of the high limestone ridge between Oyster. Peak and Tilted Mountain of the western side of the Sawback Range.' They open to the west towards Baker Lake. The stream from Cotton Grass Cirque flows into a branch of the headwaters of Red Deer River, and that. A. from Tilted Mountain Cirque. into. upper Baker Creek.. small glacial lake occurs in the bottom of each cirque, and. strongly. marked mountain sheep. trails. lead. from the head of the. cirques eastward into the canyons of the range that open to the north. 'Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. -•/, No. Idem, Vol. 78, No. i, figs. 2 and 4.. fig. 7.. 2,. 1925.. Legend of. fig.. i,. p.. i.. Also.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 189. ROBSON PEAK DISTRICT I. selected. and used several Indian names. to designate. topographic features in the Robson District, as. unnamed. good old English, Scotch, and Irish names had been used again and again in the Cordillera.. I. did not care to use, for instance, the. for six different objects within a limited area,. the great glacier. call. the. all. Hunga. name Robson. and so ventured. (Indian for chief).. to. The names Ex-. seem to be so inappropriate and trivial change to Billings Butte and lyatunga a future generation might see fit to do the. tinguisher and Rearguard. that I ventured to suggest a. (black) in the hope that. same.. The name. Phillips. bird Pass which,. Mountain was applied. on Wheeler's. map. to the point. of 1911,. is. above Snow-. Lynx Center m.). The name. called. and its elevation given as 9,542 feet (2,908.4 having been used by Wheeler in 1911 for a mountain north of Whitehorn, and approved later by the Geographic Board, the Station,. Phillips. name Chushina' (small) Ridge replaces Phillips Mountain of WalLynx Mountain (see pis. 105, 107) (10,471 feet, 3,191.6 m.) is. cott.. nearly a mile (1.6 km.) south of the high point of Chushina Ridge, and. Mount Resplendent (11,173 (4.8. In. feet, 3,405.5. m.). is. more than three miles. km.) south-southwest of Lynx.. my. published photographs. '. the. summits of Lynx and Re-. splendent are concealed by clouds and only the high limestone. clififs. north of Resplendent and south of Billings Butte (Extinguisher). The sharp summit of Resplendent is fully 2 miles km.) south of Billings Butte and a mile south of the high cliffs (3.2 seen to the left and above Billings Butte.. are in sight.. GEOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE Geological nomenclature as applied to rock formations vice only if its. it. enables the student to refer the. position in an established stratigraphic system.. maps and sooner. With. If. texts with terms that lead only to confusion. it is. is. of ser-. named formation it. and. to. encumbers error, the. correctly redefined or goes to the scrap heap the better.. the increase of information by field study and accurate sur-. veys, reinforced in the case of the sedimentary rocks. by thorough. paleontological research and in the case of the crystalline and eruptive. rocks by petrographic studies,. it. is. inevitable that there will be a. breaking up of former units and groupings that will necessitate. Approved by Geographic Board of Canada. ^Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 57, No. 12, 1913,. new. *. pi. 57, fig.. 2; pi. 58,. fig. 2..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 190. VOL. 75. and groupings of units. This will mean the dropping of old names, the meaning of which has been the subject of controversy, and those whose authors have included under one term,. names. for newly defined units. through lack of information or because of preconceived ideas, units that may belong to one or more systems. Without doubt we should. endeavor to preserve names given by pioneer workers, but not at the sacrifice of clarity or the advancement of knowledge. The long and bitter. controversy of Murchison and Sedgwick over the terms Silurian. and Cambrian was largely the. was injurious. The. result of the lack of information. and. to the progress of geological science.. rules for geological nomenclature formulated. and promulgated. by the International Geological Congress are most helpful and. if. followed by geologists will be of great assistance not only to the professional geologist but to. laymen who have occasion. all. instructors, students, engineers,. and. to refer to geological literature.. SAWBACK FORMATION The name. ". Sawback. " formation. was proposed by Dr. John A. known Devonian. Allan in 191 3 for the formations lying beneath the of the. Sawback Range.' Not. finding any fossils, he. tentatively re-. ferred the entire series of limestones and shales, estimated to have a thickness of 3.700 feet. (1,127.8 m.), to the Devonian.. This was. repeated without reservations in 1915/ but in 1916 Allan reported*. from Mount Edith numerous fragments of that the beds containing them may be correlated with the Paget formation, and the shales beneath with the Boswortji formation and that the gray arenaceous limestones at the base of the section correspond to the Middle Cambrian Eldon formation. He mentions having found salt crystals in a shale series beneath the oolitic limestones and that this indicates a continental origin for the shales. These shales are now referred to the basal Upper Cambrian Arctomys formation. Allan thus includes in his Sawback formation, as we now know it, one Ozarkian, three Upper Cambrian, and one Middle Cambrian formation. that in oolitic beds west. Cambrian. trilobites. occur. ;. ;. L. D. Burling states in his report of field-work for 1915* that. M. Kindle had found. in 191 5 Cambrian fossils in the upper formation, and that he (Burling) had collected part of the Sawback. Dr. E.. 'Summary. Rep. Geol. Surv. Canada for 1912 (1914),. Geol. Cong. Guide Book, No.. 'Summary 'Summary *. Idem,. 8,. pt. 2, p.. Rep. Geol. Surv. Canada for 1914 (iQiS), Rep. Geol. Surv. Canada for 1915 (1916),. p. 99.. p.. 172.. 182. p. 43.. p.. 102.. Twelfth. Int..

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. fossils. I9I. from a dozen or more faunal horizons in the section, but nothis pubHshed by him in this or subsequent reports about the. further. ing-. collections or the section.. During the season of 1921 a trail was completed under my direction head of Ranger Brook into the heart of the Sawback Range, and a carefully measured section made from the base of the Devonian down through the Sarbach, Mons, Lyell, and Arctomys formations to the Eldon. Fossils were collected and subsequently identified. In 1924, Dr. Kindle published a [laper entitled " Standard Palaeozoic section of the Rocky Mountains near Banff, Alberta " in which he follows Allan and includes in the estimated 3,700 feet ( 1,127.8 m.) One of the " Sawback limestone " the following geologic formations Ordovician (Canadian), Sarbach;^ three Upper Cambrian, Sabine. Lyell, and Arctomys and one Middle Cambrian formation, the Eldon, which was identified by Allan through lithologic resemblance. I should prefer to use the term Sawback, but if we were .to give to the. '. :. ;. only one formational of convenience in son,. I. name. to every great limestone series as a matter. mapping the. areal geology, or for a sentimental rea-. fear the history of the deposition of sedimentary formations in. would be a most imperfect and misleading must be remembered that what appears on superficial exami-. the Cordilleran Geosyncline one.. It. nation to be the record of continuous deposition,. may. in reality be. and broken by great gaps caused by non-deposition of one or more formations. Such unconformities occur in the preDevonian limestone series of the Sawback Trough and must be taken into account in identifying and naming the formations both of the Sawback Trough and those that were deposited elsewhere during the. a record imperfect. periods of non-deposition.. In addition to the character of the strata. and their order of conformable or unconformable superposition, the paleontological record should always be given careful consideration. If that. record shows in an apparently continuous series of beds that. there are. faunas missing which occur in different formations or. systems elsewhere. in. well-established. sections,. then the geologist. should recognize that there are breaks in the stratigraphic record that. and finding the interruptions resulting When these are found he must from series apparently continuous of strata into units or formadivide the necessitate his searching for. non-deposition or erosion.. '. Pan-Amer. Geologist, Vol. XLII, No.. 2,. 1924, p. 15.. "Kindle refers to the Sarbach as Walcott's Sarback formation, evidently overlooking the fact that the name was derived from Mount Sarbach (10,700 feet, 3,261.4 m.) in the Glacier Lake District, where the formation has a thickness of 1,120 feet (341.4 m.)..

:. SMITHSONIAN ISIISCKLLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 192. VOL. 75. and designate them by appropriate names if they have not been named elsewhere in tlie same geological iMH)vince. The break in the record may be fonnd in an ajiparently solid layer of rock, as shown by a block to which I called attention in 191 2.* The lower part of the layer cai"ries typical Upjier Cambrian, the npper part typical Upper Chazyan fossils, and the strata and faunas tious. of the intervening- Canadian formations are absent.. Elsewhere the. missing strata and faunas appear, and the two faunas of the solid layer of rock are found to be separated by several geological formations,. which proves that a long time interval elapsed between the deposition A critical examination. of the lower and upper portions of the layer. of the block also showecl a structure of. its. marked dilTerence. in the. lower and upper portions, which. hasty inspection. This illustration. is. is. composition or. not apparent on a. given here in order to show. how. and broad generalizations, based on determining the limits of geological forma-. futile are lithological characters. imperfect knowledge, in tions. and even systems.. working in sedimentary formations should knowledge of the faunas that he may encounter to identify the lu)rizon in which they occur, or else have a trained paleontologist with him to collect the fossils and post him from day to day. Every. have. geologist. field. sufficient. on the stratigraphic position of the various strata he is studying. Less than this means inaccurate maps, structure sections, and historical records. insert the. I. good. above observations here as the Sawback formation is a meet with in the. illustration of the difliculties a geologist will. great Cordilleran and Appalachian Mountain ranges, and the broad intercontinental areas.. much. ates,. Thanks. to Ulrich, Schuchert,. and. their associ-. has been done to elucidate the history of the continent from. the beginning of Paleozoic time to the present.. done especially. in. Much. remains to be. the western United States, Canada, and Alaska.. DEVONIAN. The. Bow. first. to recognize. Geological. Survey,. BanlY limestone, the ". feet. and * °. and name the Devonian formations of the. Valley section of Alberta was R. G. McConnell of the Canadian. who ". in 1887 published, under the heading of BantT series." He says. The BantY limestone [. 1,554-5 "l],. into lower. and. is. series has a total thickness of about 5,100. divisible into a lower. and upper shales. ". and upper limestone,. ^. :. Smithsonian Misc. Coll., \'ol. 37, No. 9, 191J, pp. 253- J54. Geo!. Surv. Canada, Report for 1886 (1887), Pt. D. p. 17 D..

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. The. series is divided as follows (p. 15. Carboniferous. Devonian. passing. down. into. D). :. 193.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 194 In 191 9. I. studied the formations of the Glacier. Lake. VOL. 75. District at the. headwaters of the Saskatchewan River, and during the. field. season. of 1920 the Devonian and pre-Devonian formations at the head of. Clearwater River and Pipestone Pass, about. t,^. miles. (53.1. km.). Lake section. In 1924 I proposed the name Messines for the Middle Devonian limestone at Glacier Lake, where. east-southeast of Glacier. it. is. superjacent to the Ordovician (Canadian) Sarbach formation.'. The Messines appear. to be the equivalent of the Intermediate lime-. The name Pipestone was proposed for the Upper Devonian limestone at Pipestone Pass, which is about 33 miles stone of. McConnell..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS. <.





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:. PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 195. Banff limestone and Intermediate limestone were bracketed under ". and called Banff limestone and dolomite. " Lower half probably Mid-Devonic." With our present information the Banff series and Intermediate limestone of McConnell are classified as shown on opposite page. ". Devonic. McConnell correlated the great limestone. series beneath his Inter-. mediate limestone in the Sawback Range with his Castle Mountain Later, Allan included these limestones under the. group.. back formation, which (see. I. have. Sawback formation,. p.. in this. paper assigned to. map. is. name Sawformations. 190).. DESCRIPTION OF PLATE This. five. based on a general land survey. 26. map. of southern Alberta. issued by the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, Canada.. Scale. 1:79200 or 12.5 miles (20.1 km.) to the inch. The true north and is shown by the land survey lines. The heavy faced letters A to U indicate the approximate position. south. of the following localities. A. Present known limit of western outcrops of Cambrian rocks of Cordilleran-Geosyncline.. Area about the head of Glacier Lake, Alberta. The geologic is located a little to the right and east of B. C. Area about Mount Wilson, Alberta, the typical locality of the Mount Wilson quartzite (p. 208). Mount Sarbach is about 10 miles (16. 1 km.) south of Mount Wilson. B.. section (p. 338). Sififleur River section. Alberta (p. 333). Mount about 3 miles (4.8 km.) west of D. Sifffeur River flows to the northwest just above the top of the letter D.. D. Locality of the. Sedgwick. is. Section Mountain, Alberta. E. u])])er. end of E,. at the. (pi. 80), is just above the right head of Clearwater River, Alberta. The. Clearwater section (p. Z-7) is near the upper part of the letter E. E. Location of Eossil Mountain section, Alberta (p. 281). Baker. Lake G. of. G. is. at the. lower end of the E.. Bonnet Peak at the. section, Alberta (p. 272), is near the upper side northwest end of the Sawback Range.. H. Location of Ranger Canyon back Range. The town of Banff. is. section. Alberta (p. 264), in. Saw-. about 10 miles (16.1 km.) to the. southwest. I.. Area of Ghost River. River near where Alberta.. it. section (p. 259), on the west side of Ghost turns south after passing out from its canyon..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 196. J.. The. VOL. 75. location of the (ilenogle graptolite beds (p. 218),. is. a Httle. on the Canadian Pacific Railway, British. east of Glenogle Station,. Columbia.. K. Type. Beaverfoot formation on the Beaverfoot. locality of the. Range, British Columbia. L. Ottertail escarpment where the. stone. is. Upper Cambrian. well exposed, also to the southeast of. L. Ottertail lime-. along the Ottertail. River, British Columbia.. Warm. M. Harrowgate, and. Spring Creek. British Columbia.. Devonian limestones occurs near the head of. outcrop of. An. Warm. Spring Creek.. N. Location of Sinclair Canyon, British Columbia, between the Brisco and Stanford ranges.. Golden and Canal. Flats.. It. It is. the most important canyon between. cuts through the various geologic forma-. tions at nearly a right angle to the strike of the strata.. O. Sabine Mountain. at. south end of Stanford Range, British Co-. lumbia, where a pre-Devonian stratigraphic section was examined. P. Location of. Mount Stephen section also, on the northwest side Mount Burgess, Mount Field, and the ;. of the Kicking Horse River,. Burgess shale section. (p. 315), British. Columbia.. Q. Mount Bosworth on the Continental Divide, where the geologic from the Alberta slope over the Divide into. section (p. 308) extends British Columbia.. R. The Lake Louise and Agnes section. Alberta. (p.. 302),. is. located. about 3 miles (4.8 km.) southwest of Lake Louise Station on the. Canadian Pacific Railway. S.. Bow T.. Bow Lake section. Alberta (]>. 324), is located near the head of Lake, on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide. The. Castle. Mountain. T. the lower side of the. section. Alberta (p. 274),. is. located near. opposite Castle Mountain Station on the. Canadian Pacific Railw^ay.. v. Mount Assiniboine section in. an. air line. 296) about 22 miles (35.4 km.) south of Banff, in British Columbia. (p.. DISTANCES IN DIRECT LINE BETWEEN TYPICAL SECTIONS REFERRED TO IN THIS PAPER Glacier. B on map, plate 26, is taken as a base for Mount Stephen at P and Mount Bosworth Kicking Horse-Bow River area.. Lake. section at. reference at the north at. Q. in the. ;.

:. PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. From. Glacier. Lake. Siffleur section. 197. section to. (D). Clearwater section (E). Peak sec(F) Mount Bosworth section (Q) Ranger Canyon section in Sawback Range (H) Ghost River section (I) Mount Dennis section (P) Sinclair Canyon section Sabine Mountain section (N) Mount Robson section Ranger Canyon section (H) to: Ghost River section (I) Mount Stephen section (P) to: Clearwater section (E) Ranger Canyon section (H) Ghost River section (I) Mount Bosworth section (Q). 25 miles. (. 40.2. 33 miles. (. 53.1. km.) east-northeast km.) east-southeast. Fossil Mountain-Oyster tion. Mount Bosworth. (Q) to: Clearwater section (E) Glacier Lake section (B) Ranger Canyon section (H) Clearwater section (E) to: Sinclair Canyon section (N) Ranger Canyon section (H) to: Sinclair Canyon section (N). ^2 miles. (83.7 km.). 42 miles. (. 67.5. east-southeast. km.) southeast. 69 miles (iii.o km.) southeast 87 miles (139.9 km.) east-southeast 43 miles ( 69.1 km.) south-southeast 100 miles (160.9 km.) south-southeast 132 miles (212.4 km.) 125 miles. (201. i. south-southeast. km.) nortli-northwest km.) east-northeast. 24 miles. (. 38.6. 26 miles. (. 41.8 km.). 32 miles. (. 51.4. 55 miles. (. 88.5. 7 miles. (. 11.3. north-northeast. km.) east-southeast km.) east km.) northeast. section. km.) north km.) north-northwest 46.7 km.) southeast. 19 miles. (. 30.6. 42 miles. (. 67.6. 29 miles. (. 72 miles (115.8 km.) soutli 40 miles. (. 64.3. km.) south-io° west. CORDILLERAN GEOSYNCLINE The. extent, importance,. and general contents of the Cordilleran. Geosyncline have been outlined. in the. preceding paper.^ In the follow-. more detailed account is given of the sequence of events, thickness and character of the formations, and their stratigraphic ing pages a. values.. In a paper published in 1924,*. I. considered that the formations. from Ghost River on the Rocky Mountain front (I on map, pi. 26) to the pre-Cambrian on the west side of Columbia River Valley (N on map) had been deposited in regular sequence in a single Cordilleran trough, and the accompanying diagrammatic sketch of the section showed the formations so arranged from the Lower Cambrian to the Silurian. This view was strongly sustained by the Glacier Lake-Saskatchewan River. constituting the great section extending. ^ Pre-Devonian Sedimentation in Southern Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 75, No. 4, 1927. ' Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 75, No. i.. Canadian. Rocky. Mountains..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 198. VOL. 75. D. on map), as the Devonian limestones were present not only on the eastern and western sides of the trough, but also for a long distance in Mounts Murchison and Sedgwick of the central section (B. C.. portion. field season of 1924 I had the opportunity of studying formations of the Beaverfoot-Brisco-Stanford Range and of. During the the. passing in rapid review the entire Kicking Horse River section. This. me. caused. summer. to question. of 1926 that. I. my view of 1923 but it was not until the concluded that while the 1923 view might be. generally correct for the Glacier Lake-Saskatchewan section,. not correctly record the history of the deposition of the. Horse. it. did. Bow-Kicking. section.. PRE-DEVONIAN UNCONFORMITY AND INTERVAL IN THE CORDILLERAN PROVINCES Many. sections in the Cordilleran Provinces clearly prove that there. was a great. stratigraphic break at the base of the. Devonian limestones. which are so strongly developed over the eastern section of the Rocky. and west of the " Rocky Mountain Trench." This unconformity in western Canada extends from the F"orty-ninth Parallel on the south to Yellowhead Pass and far beyond to the north. That the Devonian limestones were deposited Mountains and. so in the area east. less. entirely across the Cordilleran Geosyncline. by the transgressing De-. vonian sea on the line of the Bow-Kicking Horse Rivers. is. not prob-. my. paper of 1923 (published in 1924),^ I assumed that they were, being largely influenced by the Glacier Lake- Saskatchewan. able, but in. River section (B, C,. D. on map,. pi.. 26), where the Devonian lime-. stones are present on the eastern and western sides of the geosyncline. and also. in the central portion in. Near the shore cline, the. line. Mounts Murchison and Sedgwick.. on the eastern and western. deposition of pre-Devonian sediment. sides of the geosyn-. was usually. irregular. and thinner than in the central parts, and often the beds disappeared This great unconformity I first recognized on the Rocky Mountain front, west of and above Ghost River and named it the Ghost River Interval. In most instances I have used this as the upper. entirely.. limit of the study of the stratigraphic sections, the. Canyon, where the Devonian. is. Clearwater River. included, being an exception.. * Walcott, La Discordance de Stratification et la Lacune Stratigraphique Pre-Devonienne dans les provinces Cordilleres d' Alberta et de Colombie Britannique, Canada. Libre Jubilaire, Soc. Geo!, de Belgique, 1924, pp. 1 19-123, pis. i-iii. Section on p. 121..

:. :. PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. I99. In several localities stratified, nonfossiliferous deposits occur be-. tween the base of the Middle Devonian and the subjacent fossiliferous rocks of the lower Paleozoic. For two of these deposits, the exact ages of which are unknown,. I have proposed the names Ghost River and Mount Wilson formations. Deposits at other localities have not. been named as they consist of only a few feet of shale and their distribution has not been traced for any considerable distance. For discussions of these formations see pages 210, and 208.. The. extent of the time interval and magnitude of the stratigraphic. break in the Ghost River section are indicated by the presence of about 25,000 feet (7,620 m.) of strata in the Bow-Kicking Horse. Pass and River sections, between the lower part of the Middle Cambrian and the Middle Devonian Messines limestones, that are not present at Ghost River. Silurian. These formations include Feet. :. Meters. Brisco formation. Beaver foot formation Canadian Glenogle shales Ozarkian (Lower and Upper only) Mons and unnamed formations.... Feet. Meters. 1,200. 365.8. 400. 12 1.9. 1,700. -|-. 518.2 -f'. :. 3,800. 1,158.2. 15,955. 4,863.0. 4,580. 1,396.0. 25,635. 8,423.1. Upper Cambrian (Lower and middle portions only). :. Goodsir formation^. 6,040. limestone. 1,825. Ottertail. Chancellor formation. 4,500. Sherbrook formation Paget formation Boswortii formation Arctomys formation. i,375. 1,841.0. 556.3 i.. 371.6 4i9-i. 360. 109.7. 1,587. 483.7. 268. 81.6. Total Upper Camlirian.... Middle Cambrian. :. Eldon formation Stephen formation. 2,728. 640. 195.1. Cathedral formation. 1,212. 369.4. 831.5. Total Middle Cambrian... Total. Of the above formations the Brisco, Beaverfoot, Glenogle, and Mons were deposited in the Beaverfoot Trough the Goodsir, Otter;. ^ In Walker's section at the head of Windermere Canyon the Glenogle given a thickness of 2,152 feet (655.9 in.). ^ See footnote p. 200.. is.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 200. VOL. 75. and Chancellor in the Goodsir Trough the Sherbrook, Paget, Bosworth, Arctomys, Eldon, Stephen, and Cathedral in the Bow Trough. tail,. ;. To what. if any, contemporaneous deposition went on in and Beaverfoot Troughs is unknown. At present we have no evidence that any of the formations of the area assigned to. extent,. the Goodsir. the Goodsir. or. Bow. Trough are represented. Troughs, so. in the areas of the. have inserted them. I. all. their. at. Beaverfoot. maximum. thickness.*. Near Elko, B. C, on. the Crowsnest branch of the Canadian Pacific. Railway and 132 miles (212.4 km.) south-southwest of the Ghost River section, the Devonian limestone is superjacent to the Elko formation, which consists of a massive-bedded siliceous dolomite and a massive gray siliceous limestone containing indistinct coral-like forms.^. Beneath the Elko there. a formation with a Middle. is. Cam-. brian fauna," but the exact contact of the Elko and Burton formations was not seen by Schofield. In 1914 he referred the Elko (p. 81) to the " Silurian Ordovician, or Cambrian " and assigns to it a thickness of 90 feet (27.4 m.), but in 1922 the Elko as Middle Cambrian." British. Columbia. it. From my. is. bracketed with the Burton. studies in the Canal Flat area of. seems not unlikely that the Elko limestone. will be. found to be the equivalent of one or more of the great Upper Cambrian limestones or possibly the Middle Cambrian Eldon limestone. ^. of the. Mount Bosworth. The known. section.*. relations of the pre-. to the pre-Cambrian of the Selkirk and Dogtooth Mountains on the western side of the Columbia River Valley from Canal Flats to Golden, B. C, are described in the paper on the Beaver-. Devonian formations. foot-Brisco-Stanford Range.' *. Since this was written a restudy of the few fossils found in the formations. of the Ottertail. Range. indicates the possibiHty that the lower portion of the. Goodsir and hence also the underlying Ottertail and Chancellor are not younger than the lower half of the Upper Cambrian. If this possibility should be proved to be a fact, then these formations will have to be correlated with the Bosworth and adjacent formations, or perhaps, since the contained faunas are not the same, will interfinger with them. ^. Schofield, S.. J.,. — C. E. R.. Museum. Geol. Surv. Canada,. Bull.. No.. 2,. 1914, p. 83.. ^. Idem,. *. Geol. Surv. Canada,. ^. Smithsonian Misc.. °. This interpretation has been considerably altered by recent discoveries of of the Geological Survey of Canada. C. E. R.. p.. 125.. Museum. Coll.,. Bull.. No.. Vol. 53, No.. 5,. 35, 1922, p.. —. new faunas by members '. Smithsonian Misc.. Coll., Vol. 75,. 15.. 1908, pp. 204-209.. No.. i,. 1924, p. 39..

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. The presence. 201. of this great stratigraphic break at the base of the. Devonian near Elko and the upper Columbia River Valley proves that conditions existed on the western side of this portion of the Cordilleran Trough in Silurian, Ordovician, and part of Cambrian time, similar to those that prevailed on the eastern side in the Ghost River area at the same period. It was a time of irregular and slight sedimentation on the gently sloping pre-Cambrian strata forming the southwestern and western shore and adjoining shallow sea of the Cordilleran Geosyncline, while in the Bow, Goodsir and Beaver foot Troughs a great thickness of sediments was accumulating. Devonian transgression. The Devonian transgression recorded so clearly in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia has been reported from the Ozark uplift in Missouri where the Devonian rests unconformably on the Canadian Jefferson City dolomite (Beekmantown). More recently the following statement occurs in a report on the Devonian of Missouri ^ " In central Missouri the oldest Devonian rocks are Middle Devonian in age, and the youngest underlying rocks are older than the Niagaran of the Middle Silurian. The time interval between the youngest underlying rocks and the oldest Devonian probably ranges between three million and ten million years in different sections. During this time some 5,000 feet [1,524 m.] of sediments were deposited in places in New York and Pennsylvania." The Devonian transgression is also beautifully shown by Dr. L. F. Noble in a series of sections in the Grand Canyon of Northern Arizona, where the Devonian rests unconformably on the Upper Cambrian.^ Within the Cordilleran area south of the Forty-ninth Parallel, the base of the Devonian is superjacent to various formations in different areas and sections. At this time the great Middle Devonian submergence extended over more than one-third of the North Ameri-. —. ^. can continent.. FOLDING OF PRE-DEVONIAN SEDIMENTARY FORMATIONS OF THE CORDILLERAN GEOSYNCLINE OF THE. CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS The area. Bow. selected for consideration includes the drainage basin of River from the Rocky Mountain front westward to the Conti-. nental Divide, and on the west of the Divide the drainage basin of the. Kicking Horse River and the streams to the north and south that flow west into the Columbia River. This area is about ^2 miles ( 1 15.8 km.). XXX, No. 6, 1922, pp. 450-458. ^Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines, Vol. 17, 2d 'U. S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Paper 131-B, 1922, pi. XX. ^Journ. Geol., Vol.. ser.,. 1922,. pp.. 4,. 5..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 202. VOL. 75. across on a northeast-southwest Hne passing through Kicking. Horse. on a Hne passing through Valley. The north and south axis extends from the headwaters of the Saskatchewan River, about. Pass, and about 65 miles. Banff in the Bow Crowsnest Pass to. (104.6 km.). 225 miles (362 km.).. There has been. little. compression of the strata and shortening of. from the southwest. the northwest-southeast axis but the pressure. has flexed, faulted, and upturned the strata to such an extent as to materially shorten the northeast-southwest axis and narrow the area originally occupied by the pre-Devonian. sediments in this region.. McConnell. and Allan ^ which cross the Rocky Mountains on the line of the Bow Valley and Kicking Horse Pass and River, also by the sections of the Cascade Coal Basin by Dowling ' and photographs of the upturned strata of the Sawback This. is. Range. illustrated b}^ the sections of. in this. paper. (pis. 30,. 31).. '. The shortening. of the transverse. and consequent narrowing of the area on this line is estimated to ])e about 25 per cent, which leads to the conclusion that its original width was about 96 miles (154.5 km.). On the south the sea narrowed to where, near Kootenay Pass, the pre-Cambrian land area of Kintla Island appears to have cut it off on the east and south as far as Marias Pass in Montana. It is probable that the connection between the Cambrian sea north and south of this island was to the west. The area of Cambrian sedimentation in the province outlined between Kootenay Pass and Thompson Pass is approximately 18,000 axis. ^. square miles (46,620. sq.. km.). In this there. is. a northwest-southeast. which the sediments accumulated to a great thickness and from which they diminished toward the northeast and southwest shore lines of the sea. The greatest known depth of pre-Devonian Paleozoic sedimentation was along what is now the line of the Bow and Kicking Horse Pass and Rivers, where, in the Bow, Goodsir, and. belt within. Beaverfoot Troughs of the geosyncline, (8,534.4 m.).°. The. was over 28,000 feet is shown by the prethe Ghost River section on the Rocky Mounit. thinning out to the eastward. Devonian formations in on map), which have 1,122 feet (342 m.) of strata that referred are to the Middle Cambrian and 500 feet (152.4 m.) to the Lower Cambrian also a deposit of unknown age (Ghost River formatains front (I. ;. 'Geol. Surv. Canada, Report for 1886 (1887), Pt. D, p. 42 D. " Geol. Surv. Canada, Transcontinental Excursion, Guide Book No. 1913.. Section in pocket.. ^. Geol. Surv. Canada, Rep. Cascade Coal Basin and maps, 1907.. *. Problems of American Geology, Yale Univ. Press,. °. See footnote. p. 200.. 1915, p. 197.. 8,. Pt. II,.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 203. 285 feet (86.9 m.) thick that is subjacent to the Devonian limestone. To the southwest near Elko, British Columbia, there are a. tion). few. Lower and Middle Cambrian strata superpre-Cambrian and a thin deposit of magnesium limestone. feet in thickness of. jacent to the. (Elko) of undetermined age beneath the Devonian.*. The of the. character of the displacement of the strata on the western side. Sawback Range. is. illustrated. The. by plates 30, 33.. -strata. of plate 33 are inclined 60° to 75° to the west-southwest, whereas the beds a few miles north, plates 43, 49, are inclined 40° to 60°.. CHARACTER OF THE ROCKS The predominant rock. of the pre-Devonian formations. Bow. In the combined Kicking Horse Canyon and. Bow, Goodsir, and Beaverfoot Troughs,. the. the pre-Cambrian to the top of the Silurian. is. calcareous.. River sections of. the total thickness is. from. approximately 28,000. feet (8,534.4 m.), distributed as follows: Feet. Meters. 16,180. 4,931-7. Calcareous, and argillaceous shales. 6,740. 2,054.4. Argillaceous and arenaceous shales. 1,700. 518.2. Arenaceous shales and sandstones. 3,078. 938.2. 600. 182.9. Limestones of varying character and purity. Quartzitic sandstones. The tion. ;. limestones. may. be almost pure, as in the Ozarkian. formation. siliceous, as in the Silurian Brisco. ;. Mons forma-. dolomitic as in. Upper Cambrian Bosworth formation more or less arenaceous Middle Cambrian Cathedral formation quartzitic as in the Lower Cambrian Fort Mountain formation argillaceous as in the Upper Cambrian Chancellor formation or a combination of calcareous, siliceous, arenaceous and argillaceous material. The shales vary from the calcareous of the Mons to the siliceous of the Burgess shale member of the Middle Cambrian Stephen formation, and the argillaceous of the Chancellor to the arenaceous of the Lower Cambrian St. Piran formation. The quartzitic sandstones of the Fort Mountain are underlain by a fine siliceous conglomerate of varying. the. ;. as in the. ;. ;. ;. thickness and character.. Thoroughly washed beach sands, with a varying amount of small quartz pebbles, composed the greater part of the lower beds of the. Fort Mountain formation.. Such. quartzitic sands are not. known. to. have occurred again, except as small lenses, until the transgressing '. Schofield, S.. J.,. Geol. Surv. Canada,. Museum. Bull.. No.. 2,. 1914, p. 81..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 204. VOL. 75. them over the impure sandstones and shales where. Silurian sea deposited. of the Ordovician in the western side of the Cordillcran sea,. they. now form. the. Wonah. quartzite of the Beaverfoot-Brisco-Stan-. when. the Devonian transgressing sea deposited. ford Range, and later the sands. now forming. the. Mount Wilson. quartzite of the Clear-. water and Saskatchewan areas.. The. Beltian pre-Cambrian rocks are mainly arenaceous and siliceous. with some. shales,. stone.. they. They. fine. conglomerate and more or. may have. sand-. furnished the material that was distributed over the. bottom of the Cambrian sea and incorporated stones in the lower part of the. The. less friable. are unlike the superjacent Cambrian rocks except where. in the shales. and sand-. Lower Cambrian.. limestones are persistent in character over relatively large. areas but they vary in. amount. of included arenaceous and argillaceous. material, in the extent of dolomitization,. which range from a thin shale variations. may. and. in the thickness of layers,. to a layer several. feet thick.. Such. be noted by comparing the Bow-Kicking Horse section. with that of Glacier Lake and even better with the Robson Peak section.. Sedimentation.. —When the advancing Cambrian sea penetrated the. area of the Cordilleran Geosyncline, the adjoining land surfaces were. An. of low relief with only minor elevations and depressions. tion appears to. have existed. in Kintla Island,'. which was. excep-. not, as far. now known, covered by a post-Beltian pre-Devonian sea. The impure sandstones and shales of the Beltian series of the Algonkian. as. had not been greatly disturbed or eroded since the withdrawal of the great inland non-marine seas in which they were deposited, although. they were undoubtedly more or less decayed and disintegrated.. That the advancing waters encountered only. slight elevations in. and along the shores of the Cordilleran Geosyncline is evidenced by the almost entire absence of coarse conglomerates, and the presence, above the coarse basal sandstones and of very fine-grained sandstones and. As. fine. mud. conglomerates, of deposits. rocks.. mud were gathering in the shallow Lower CamBow Trough of the Cordilleran Geosyncline was slowly. the sands and. brian sea, the. deepening. until. 4.000 feet (1,219.2 m.) or more of shallow water. sediments accumulated before the calcareous sediments the. Mount Whyte. limestones began to be deposited.. now forming This period. appears to have been sufficiently long to permit of the thorough work^. Problems of American Geology, Vale Univ. Press,. 1915, p. 167..

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. 205. ing over of the disintegrated surface material in the path of the ad-. vancing sea and that brought into. it. by tributary streams. There. is. almost no coarse material present in the Middle and Upper Cambrian,. Ozarkian and Ordovician, the prevailing deposits being calcareous except in the Goodsir Trough of the geosyncline, where an immense. amount of. argillaceous, finely arenaceous,. and. increased the thickness of the deposits of. Beaverfoot Trough in Ordovician time.. siliceous matter greatly. Upper Cambrian. geosyncline, where limestones predominate, the ter of. its. same general charac-. sediments continues from about the Fiftieth Parallel 200 miles. (321.8 km.) or more to the north.. and. in the. In the central area of the. extensions north and south.. This includes the. The. on the east were of low. that the lands. Bow Trough. conditions mentioned indicate relief. while those of the. western or Selkirk side of the geosyncline were moderately elevated.. From. where the drainage was favorable great quantities muds and slimes were carried to the Goodsir seaway. These conditions changed at the close of Upper Cambrian Chancellor time, and 2,000 feet (609.6 m.) of calcareous deposits gathered, which now form the Ottertail limestones. Another the west,. of fine siliceous and argillaceous. shifting of the western lands resulted in the resumption of the influx. of siliceous. muds which, with. calcareous matter, formed the 6,400. (1,950.7 m.) of shales and siliceous limestones of the Goodsir formation. This shift of the source of sediments in Upper Cambrian feet. time. is. most marked. in the. Goodsir Trough, but. eastern side of the geosyncline in Alberta, as. is. it. also occurs. shown by. on the. the abrupt. change from the thick-bedded magnesian limestones of the Upper. Cambrian Lyell formation. to the calcareous shale. and interbedded. interformational conglomerate limestone of the superjacent Sabine. formation.. The mation tral. prevailing rock of the Ordovician (Canadian) is. ^. Sarbach for-. (Sawback Trough) and in the centhe Cordilleran area in the Glacier Lake Trough, but. calcareous on the eastern. portion of. ^ The Sarbach formation is referred to both the Ordovician and Canadian systems at various places in the text. This lack of uniformity of treatment results from two things first, the fact that the different parts of the text were :. written at different times, and second, the desire to avoid writing two words each time the term is used. It must be noted that the true Ordovician is much. more sparingly represented throughout the Canadian Rockies than the lower beds now referred to the newer Canadian system. Dr. Walcott was willing to follow Dr. Ulrich in regarding the Canadian beds as probably constituting a separate system.. — C.. E. R..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 206 in the. VOL. 75. western area, in the Beaver foot Trough, the Ordovician (Cana-. is made up of argillaceous and arenaceous formed of muds and fine sands derived from a western land area that was probably more elevated than during Upper Cambrian and Ozarkian time. The Silurian and Devonian rocks are nearly all calcareous, with some very fine argillaceous and arenaceous matter intermingled and an occasional siliceous, cherty band of limestone. A few bands of fine quartzitic sandstones indicate local changes of land conditions and drainage with a temporary supply of fine sand that was tisually thoroughly washed prior to its final deposition. The origin and character of the sediments deposited in the Cordilleran Geosyncline in Paleozoic time form a most interesting subject for study a study worthy of a well-trained young geologist who. dian) Glenogle formation shales. ;. wishes to. make a. side of the. contribution to the geological history of the western. North American continent.. i.

PART. II. PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS The pre-Devonian. Cordilleran. for long periods,. persistent. seas,. as. far. as. known,. were. during which large accumulation? of. sediment were deposited in the troughs that were formed from time to. time in the Cordilleran Geosyncline.. Sometimes. -deposition. was. going on in two or more of these minor troughs at the same time,. and. at other times possibly. only in one, as in the case of the Goodsir. Trough in Upper Cambrian time. In the closing period of Lower Cambrian time, the sands and arenaceous and siliceous silts were embedding the Mesonacidae fauna in the Beaverfoot Trough on the west and along the eastern shore of the Bow Trough on the east, and again later the Lyell, Sabine, and Mons limestones were being deposited in the Beaverfoot and Sawback Troughs, the intervening of. stretches. the. geosyncline. being separated. by barriers or. elevated above the water and not receiving deposits.. To. else. the north,. however, the Beaverfoot and Sawback Troughs extended as open. seaways into the Glacier Lake Trough, permitting the Cambrian. and Ozarkian faunas. to pass freely. between them for a long period.. Fluctuations in the depth and extent of the seaways in the troughs resulted in. more or. less. abrupt changes in the extent, character, and. thickness of the deposits, and in the consequent succession of faunas, the latter receiving at Pacific. varying intervals. new. Ocean on the south and west and from. accessions the Arctic. from the Ocean on. the north.. In some areas, changes in extent and depth resulted in accumulations of. sediments, and in others diastrophic. tilting of the if. movements caused. bottom of the seaways, so that very. little. a. deposition,. any, took place for considerable periods, while in not far distant. more geological formations or parts of formaThe shallowing of the seaways towards the eastern and western shores and at times within the minor troughs areas or troughs one or tions. were deposited.. resulted in irregular. and overlapping deposition, and often. in. non-. deposition of sediments, that gave rise to unconformities of varying. degrees of magnitude, without evident disconformity at the contacts. between the newer and older formations. This occurred in Cambrian, Ozarkian, and later Paleozoic time. One of the most marked uncon207.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 208 formities. at the base of the Sikirian at the. is. VOL. 75. time of the. transgression/ and another at the base of the Devonian. Wonah. (pp. 201,. 192), at the time of the Messines transgression.''. An. example of great variation in deposition within the area of the is afforded by the Middle Cambrian Eldon Hmestone. which is 2,728 feet (831.5 m.) thick in the Bow-Kicking Horse section at Mount Stephen and absent in the Sifffeur section (p. 333) of the Saskatchewan River area 39 miles (62.7 km.) to the north. The Beaverfoot, Brisco, Wonah, and Glenogle formations of the Beaverfoot Trough in the Stanford-Brisco Range, and the Goodsir formation of the Goodsir Trough, are not known to occur north of the Kicking Horse River drainage, and at Glacier Lake the pre-Devonian section is very dissimilar to that of the Bow-Kicking Horse section. In the following pages will be found a discussion of the formations under the names now in use, giving their history, content, and general geosyncline. characters.. DEVONIAN my. purpose to study the Devonian formations further than to identify those that occur immediately above the great Ghost It. has not been. River interval.. In this connection. I. have had occasion. to. name. the. Lake section and the Pipestone formation of the Upper Devonian. These formations are discussed on page 194. Two formations. Ghost River formation and Mount Wilson quartzite, occur beneath the Middle Devonian and above the remaining Messines formation of the Middle Devonian. in. the Glacier. lower Paleozoic rocks.. Mount Wilson. Quartzite.. Walcott, 1923. —. Type locality. Mount Wilson, on the north side of the Saskatchewan River (C on map. pi. 26) in the Glacier Lake Trough. Derivation. From Mount Wilson. Character. layers. — — Compact,. white quartzite or quartzitic sandstone in. varying from 2 inches. (5.1. cm.). to. 6 feet. It. very. erosion except where rounded and polished. little. Thickness.. (1.8. m.). in. breaks up into angular blocks and fragments, and shows. thickness.. — At Mount Wilson (C on map) 250. l)y. glaciation.. feet (76.2 m.).. At. Clearwater Canyon (E on map) 32 miles (51.5 km.) southeast of '. Smithsonian Misc.. ^. Named. Coll.,. Vol. 75, No.. i,. 1924, p. 50.. after the Messines formation at the base of the. area between the Saskatchewan and Alberta.. Bow. Devonian. in the. Rivers in the Rocky Mountains of.

PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS. NO. 5. Mount Wilson, 24 on the. m.). feet (7.3. strike to zero.. Ten. maximum. miles (16.. i. farther north. Fauna.. it is. 100 feet (30.5 m. and 2 miles (3.2 km.) represented hy but a thin band of quartzite. ). — None known.. Geographic distribution.. map). thickness and thinning out. km.) north of Mount Wilson. has a thickness of. it. 2O9. to the head of. — From Mount Wilson on the north. (C on. (E on map), 32. miles. Clearwater Canyon. (51.5 km.) to the southeast. It extends up the north fork of the Saskatchewan River 10 miles (16.1 km.) to opposite the mouth of Alexandra River, where it is 100 feet (30.5 m.) thick, but 2 miles (3.2 km.) farther north it has thinned down to a few feet.. Stratigraphic Relations.. — At. all. the outcrops seen, the quartzite. was. subjacent to the Middle Devonian Messines limestone and overlies the. Canadian Sarbach limestone. Observations.. —The. Mount Wilson. quartzite is one of the formaGhost River Interval (see p. 198) of which we have no faunal data to determine its age. It is presumably a deposit of the transgressing Devonian sea, and if this is correct there were no other deposits between the time of the close of the deposition of the Canadian Sarbach limestones and the incoming of the De-. tions occurring in the. vonian. sea.. No. indications of erosion were observed at the. summit of. the quartzite, or of the Sarbach limestones in the absence of the quartzite.. The Devonian. formity, just as (p. 210),. it. rests. on both, without evidence of uncon-. does on the Ghost River formation at Ghost River. although a great unconformity exists, as evidenced by the. absence of several formations occurring elsewhere.. Wonah. conditions in connection with the. We. quartzite,. have similar which occurs. 50 miles (80.5 km.) to the south' in the Sinclair Canyon section.. Here. a quartzite of similar character to the. Mount Wilson quartzite Richmond fauna,. subjacent to a limestone carrying a well-marked. is. proving that a basal quartzite and superjacent Silurian formations. were deposited. in the Sinclair. Canyon area. of the Beaverfoot. Trough. between the Canadian Glenogle shales and the Middle Devonian. The. Wonah. unknown Bow, Sawback, and Glacier Lake Troughs, which indicates that the transgression of the Richmond sea with deposition of sediments did not extend over these areas. Both quartzites are quartzite and superjacent Silurian formations are. in the Goodsir,. the Wonah is above the Glenogle and the Mount Wilson above the Sarbach limestones, quartzite is overlain by a Silurian limestone and the. superjacent to Canadian formations graptolite shales. but the *. Wonah. Smithsonian Misc.. Coll.,. ;. Vol. 75, No.. i.. 1924, pp. 14, 49..

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS. 210. Mount Wilson. quartzite by a. present information. I. Middle Devonian limestone. With our. think the. Wonah. quartzite represents the sands. of the transgressing Silurian sea and the. Mount Wilson. sands of the transgressing Devonian sea, and that the referred to the Silurian, and the. Mount Wilson. This problem must be worked out future,. who. VOL. 75. in detail. quartzite the. Wonah. to the. should be. Devonian.. by geologists of the. should study the Paleozoic formations of the Cordilleran. Nevada through to the Yukon River in Alaska, in hopes that somewhere an unbroken succession of deposits may be found containing the faunas that existed from early Cambrian time through to area from. Middle Devonian time.. Ghost River Formation. Walcott, (Jn the. Rocky Mountain. 1921. ^. front, west of Calgary, a non-fossiliferous. formation occurs beneath the Devonian, to which the name Ghost. River was applied. in. the field notes of. formed of thin-bedded and. 1920.. shaly, buff-colored. This formation. is. magnesian limestones,. 285 feet (86.9 m.) in thickness, which are superjacent to the Middle Cambrian limestones of the Ptarmigan formation, and subjacent to massive Middle Devonian limestones (Intermediate limestone of McConnell, Messines formation of Walcott," or Banfif limestone and dolomite of Kindle).'. The lower. layers are conformable with the beds. beneath for a long distance and the upper beds appear to be conform-. Devonian above, but at this upper contact there is an abrupt change to the dark massive-bedded, fossiliferous Middle Devonian limestone. No fossils of any kind were seen in or on the Ghost River magnesian limestones and shales. able with the. The Ghost River formation was traced from the south fork of Ghost River north to the Panther River, but it may extend farther along the Rocky Mountain front. In the Ranger Brook section (H on map), 24 miles (38.6 km.) westsouthwest of the Ghost River section (I on map), there is a band of black arenaceo-argillaceous shale about 6 feet (1.8 m.) in thickness. beneath the dark massive-bedded Devonian (Messines^ limestones and above the light gray, more or less cherty Sarbach limestones. This band of shale occupies the stratigraphic position of the magnesian limestones of the Ghost River formation, and appears to be *. Smithsonian Misc.. Coll.,. Vol.. '/2,. No.. 6,. 1921, p. 5;. also Vol. 67,. 1923, p. 463.. ^Smithsonian Misc. '. Coll.,. Vol. 75, No.. Pan-Amer. Geologist, Vol.. 42,. No.. 2,. i,. 1924, pp. 50, 51.. 1924, pp. 120, 121.. No.. 8,.